There is a conventional thermal printer, which is provided with a thermal head at positions corresponding to one side and the other side of thermal paper having a thermosensitive layer on both sides, and prints both sides of thermal paper by operating both thermal heads, or prints one side of thermal paper by operating one of the thermal heads (e.g., Jpn. PAT. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2001-71569).
In such a thermal printer, printed thermal paper is conveyed to the end of a cutter, cut by the cutter, and supplied to a user.
The front end of the printed thermal paper cut by a cutter is left at a position corresponding to the cutter. The front end of thermal paper must be returned to a position before a thermal head from the cutter for the next printing, and the printing speed is decreased.
It is considered to solve the problem that the end of printed and cut thermal paper is immediately returned to a position before a cutter. However, two thermal heads are provided for double-side printing, and one of the thermal heads is used for one-side printing. It is thus difficult to prevent slowdown of the printing speed only by returning the front end of thermal paper to a position before a cutter.